Madrid sure has a lot of plazas. Be sure to bring a good pair of walking shoes!

The Plaza de la Villa, Madrid’s oldest plaza, contains three main buildings – each with a different architectural style. The Casa de la Villa, also known as City Hall, is designed in a Castilian-baroque style. It’s the home of the City Council of Madrid.

Directly across from the Casa de la Villa is the Torre de los Lujanes, home of one of Madrid’s most aristocratic families. It’s been said that King Francis I of France was held captive here. There’s also the Casa de Cisneros, a palace built in 1957 for the nephew of Cardinal Cisneros, Benita Jimenez de Cisneros. Today the building has been converted to municipal offices.

Gran Via is filled with theaters, retail shops, tall buildings, hotels and pollution. At the very end of it is the Plaza de Espana, a popular destination for tourists to lounge around. It has a beautiful fountain, common in many parts of Madrid, and a statue dedicated to the Madrid’s beloved Spanish writer, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

A quick break at The Plaza de Oriente turned into a reminder that the immigrant hustle is the same whether it’s back home in NYC across the Atlantic in Madrid.

A walking tour of Old Madrid started at the Plaza de Oriente. The capital’s two most important buildings are located here – the Palacio Real and the Teatro Real. As I entered the plaza, Chinese migrant workers were selling fans on the side of the steps. My heart always goes out to migrant workers, whether they’re Chinese or not. It’s scary starting with nothing in a foreign country.